I am having a simply fantastic time at the Handscrafted Soapmakers Guild annual conference in Denver, Colorado! I’m not sure where to start. If any of you, my customers, live in Colorado, I must say that it’s a simply gorgeous place to visit and the people here are incredibly friendly. I know you’re proud to live here. This was my first trip to Colorado – shoot, it was my first trip west of the Mississippi River! – and it’s been very nice.
The conference is aMaZiNg!!! I’m learning so many great things about how to do business even better, so be looking for those improvements in the next couple or few months – definitely by summer’s end. Friday was Day 1, and it was mostly soapmaking techniques. Two of our group went to the session on advanced melt-and-pour soapmaking (and these ladies already make fantastic soaps!), and my friend Ela and I attended a 2-part class on liquid soapmaking, which had been my nemesis. In the first 15 minutes, I learned where I’d been messing up and in the remaining hour and 45 minutes, I learned how to make a (hopefully) fabulous bottle of homemade liquid soap. Saturday was Day 2, and the sessions tended to focus primarily on branding, driving your business, eCommerce and so forth. Today is Day 3, and our sessions cover the legalities of manufacturing and selling, as well as social media. I return home to my lovely family tomorrow, much, much wiser and with a new great network of friends and colleagues.
I’ll be posting pictures when I get home to share on my Facebook fan page. Not a fan, yet? No problem! The link is here. Join up today. When I get home, I’ll be setting up some great post-conference special just for my FB fans.
